3 Remap Lawyers Lose Out On Fees

March 28, 1986

A federal judge Thursday refused to allow lawyers for anti-administration bloc aldermen to switch sides in the city ward remap battle--a move that would have allowed the lawyers to collect legal fees in the lengthy case. Judge Charles R. Norgle of U.S. District Court said that the position taken by lawyers William J. Harte and others was ``disingenuous.`` After the remap lawsuit was filed in 1981, Harte, along with lawyers Earl Neal and Jerome Torshen, were hired to represent Mayor Jane Byrne, the Chcago City Council and other defendants accused of drawing a ward map that discriminated against minorities. Harte`s side lost on the issue of discrimination and appealed. They lost again, and the case eventually was assigned to Norgle who ordered new boundaries be drawn. Harte later filed a motion asking that his clients be realigned on the side of the minorities who had filed suit against the ward map.